4 comments about Beginning DirectX 10 Game Programming.

1. This is a very light introduction to DirectX10, especially to direct3d 10. Beginners should feel very comfortable with this book. The text, most of the time, is clear and the examples are very simple. The math and math explanations involved are kept to a minimum.
   
   The book delivers what it promises and should be taken as a base for further readings.



2. This is a good introduction to DirectX 10 if you haven't used DirectX before. If you're familiar with version 9 you can as well use the Microsoft documentation instead. In fact much of the code in the book seems to be taken without much modification from there. This is all right I think. When you purchase this book you essentially pay the author a finder's fee for helping you locate and use what you as a newbie would have to spend lots of time in frustration digging up yourself.
   
   For me as a newbie to DirectX the book was perfect with complete cut & paste runnable examples. It covers a lot of ground, but because it does this with so much detail it's not always as compete as you would like. For example lightning of 3D objects is covered but not the use of depth buffers. This means it tells you how to create the illusion of depth for single objects but not for many interacting objects. So I would say the book would benefit from being like 500 pages instead of just 350 in order to take it just a little bit further.
   
   But all in all it's worth every penny for a DirectX newbie. It's detailed and clearly written with working examples on a CD.



3. It truly is an introduction into D3D10. Tells you exactly how to get started. If your new to dX, this is actually a great book to start. She does a great job in telling you how things work and the way they do. Now i am not saying it will always be great and will always be easy to learn. If your not great at C++ then this book still is fine. It does not use advanced concepts. It just plainly does a great job in what it says.
   
   "BEGINNING DIRECTX 10"



4. Book gives some valuable info on DirectX techniques and apparatus, but practically no more than basic samples.

5 comments about Ajax For Dummies (For Dummies (Computer/Tech)).

1. Usually the "for Dummies" books are well, written, humorous and informative. This one, however, needed to go back for some serious editing.
   
   The writing style was stilted and hard to follow, not to mention there were plenty of errors.
   
   But I could overlook that if the content was valuable. Unfortunately, there were many problems with the content in this book.
   
   First, the example code did not match the screen shots. Mostly it was some trivial wording changes, but things like that lower the reader's confidence in the veracity of the book.
   
   Second, the way Holzer steps you through the code is both confusing and a waste of space. He shows a code snippet - but just the lines he's describing. Then the next snippet is the first snippet plus a few more lines (in bold), and on and on, so that you almost never see the entire code file in one piece, and in some cases he doesn't show the entire contents of the file at all.
   
   That wouldn't be so bad, because of course you can download all the examples from the website. The problem is, about half of them don't work, and being an Ajax Dummy, I don't know how to debug them. I tried them in Firefox and Safari, and got the same results in both.
   
   The author and publisher need to go back through this book and revalidate everything, and rewrite the code samples so they're more like every other programming book out there.



2. The book was easy to read and really showed what was happening under the covers.



3. I borrowed this book from the library. I liked it from page one, this book explains things from beginning and lets you get into things needed later for ajax, that you maybe know some about, like javascript, but gives you a great in detail use of it. I have done very little java, but feel pretty confident about it now.
   
   The book has alot of source code written, with great examples and sources of the examples on net. If you want to learn AJAX I can recommend it, but I will recommend it for intermediate users, with general programming knowledge. If you dont have that I bet there are other good "... for dummies" books out there.
   
   I finally destroyed the library book with an coffee incident, so I ordered the book from Amazon. Got it in a week, and for a great price. If any norwegians read this, I payed a total of 150,- NOK, including shipment! And thats way cheaper than going to a store here and buy it. Great, Amazon. Happy customer signing off. :)



4. I'm never disappointed with Dummies books and this one is no exception. Great read, easy to learn.



5. This book is just great. It's easy to digest, and the examples are really useful. Best of all, it explains the right way AND the wrong way. Long story short; before this book I couldn't use or understand Ajax and now I use it a lot and understand it perfectly.

5 comments about The Complete Manual of Typography.

1. This book belongs in the pantheon of well written, well presented expertise. If you liked Bringhurst's gem of a book, add this one to your library. The organization, writing and examples are exemplary. Felici's sense of humor is a treat. His sense of fit a balm to the weary.
   
   If you are type & text junkie this will soothe your jones. If you care about type this will make it clearer. Even if you are an oldster with plenty of practice this book will add something to your arsenal. At the very least you will find how to explain all that H&J arcania more clearly to others.
   
   And, as a last thought, I appreciate the restraint in the design of the book. It serves the subject well.



2. Although I'm not an expert and therefore cannot comment on whether this really is a complete manual, I can say that the book is very good. It's full of helpful examples (nicely placed in the margins) that help the reader develop good typographical intuitions. It is extremely accessible, even for a non-specialist, and from all that I can tell, it is quite comprehensive.



3. I am only half way through this book (so much in it I have to take it a few pages at a time). The history of type is covered (and should be read to learn vocabulary...but has a great glossary if you just want to learn terms in other sections as you go along...21 pages of glossary.)
   
   Seems like 1/4 of the book is history and the architecture of font AND typeface (yes...the book is so in depth it tells the difference between the two). The final 3/4 is on typesetting good and bad, how to do it with various computer programs (though no program is emphasized as each program will be good at one thing and bad at another and he wants to keep it as generic as possible so you can apply equally). It is written in a fairly straightforward language and you only have to scratch your head a couple of times (Plenty of Visual Examples are included). In fact, seeing how they do typesetting of this review is already causing some agrivation now that I know just a few things to look for. .
   
   As I read in a magazine I use for graphic design...the best advice a graphical designer for what to have a great knowledge of is Typography. Even if your desing work is middle of the road your typography will give it a more cohessive look and feel and is probably the top number one thing to master...and I am beginning to agree. The book is set up to be used as either a reference guide or a textbook...your choice. I recomend this book as your first choice. Another book is "Logo, Font and Lettering Bible" by Cabaraga...if you are into designing, letters, logos and symbols.



4. I found this to be a really good book. It covers everything you need to know about typography. From the basics and generalized topics, to the nitty gritty. So if you are looking to have a better undertanding of typography, I highly recommend this book.



5. Choose this one!! Yes, this was a textbook for my typography class, but I see it more as a book recommendation from a friend because it is absolutely something I would pleasure-read for myself. In fact, I am going to read the chapters my teacher skipped, just because the topic is so fascinating and Felici presents it in such an appetizing way. This is by far the best textbook I have had this year, and I highly recommend it to even a casual user of design software. It is a quick read, and you can easily select just the chapter that applies to you (although I would bet once you read the chapter you won't be able to stop yourself from reading the rest). He clearly presents the aesthetic principles of type and design, as well as simple ways to achieve those goals without being a programmer or design wizard. Even a brief exposure to this material will make a noticable difference in the quality of your work. I am very impressed, and hope to see more from this author in the future! Choose this one!!

3 comments about Pulling Strings with Puppet: Configuration Management Made Easy.

1. Puppet is an amazing configuration management tool. I'm a huge proponent and encourage every system administrator to give it a good, hard look. And this book is a great way to get started. It covers everything you'll need to know to get started and take you all the way through to having a nice Puppet infrastructure up and running.



2. Mr. Turnbull has done an excellent job introducing Puppet beginning and advanced concepts. As an experienced UNIX professional and Puppet user, I learned new things from his examples regarding modules and creating custom facts & providers which I intend to experiment with shortly.



3. Pulling Strings with Puppet is my third book from James Turnbull, and much like the others, this delivered.
   
   Writing a book on puppet at this stage is certainly a challenge. Puppet is growing and changing much faster than even the online documentation can keep up with. The author decided to worry about concepts and include future directions where possible. It was a good decision. The book gives a give overview of the puppet configuration tool and a few in-depth reviews of some concepts. I learned a number of things to improve my setup, even though I had been using puppet for over 6 months.
   
   Best practices and use cases are the areas I was most interested in. There are several small use-cases which build a nice foundation for using puppet including, using a version control system, using mongrel as the web server, writing your own modules, and external node storage. I would have liked to have then seen a wrap-up use case incorporating all of these ideas into an enterprise-type deployment, but it may have meant a lot of repeated material.
   
   If you're looking into puppet, I would recommend this book. It's rather inexpensive and gives a rookie a decent handle on where and how to start. The book also does a good job at providing links and direction toward the puppet community, which is needed, due to the speed at which puppet is currently changing.

5 comments about Ajax Design Patterns.

1. It help me clarify the mystery behind AJAX and provided easy to follow examples.



2. This book is not perfect. There are a handful of editing mistakes and the author seems to go out of his way to ignore anything that Microsoft might have created (except ajax of course - wink).
   
   On the positive side, this book is extremely well written. The author has a natural writing style that is conversational but still structured enough to fully cover material. The layout and organization of the book adds to the readability.



3. Got this book in late 2006, and just about a month ago, I finished. I was involved in creating web forms using Rich Internet Applications (RIA) early last year, and I was hoping this book would give me some guidance.
   
   Simply put, I did not see what I was hoping to get but there were so many duplicate use-cases, stories which resemble one after another (as some other reviewers did, I did not count how many), but overall the examples were too specific (as an example check this out from CodeExample: Yahoo!Mindset (on page 335)
   ...
   OnClick = "setup('1505998205%3Ac26b16%3A105900fde%3Aff4', 'ajax");
   ...
   
   I really don't think this statement belongs in a book. In the same story, there is even a mention of Hurricane Katrina. I mean, come on... let's cut the chase. Too many sets of the same "Real-World Examples" used in many different pattern makes the context blurry. It certainly lost me. Yes, it took about 10 months for me to read this book, but I had other projects and priorities.
   
   Overall, the first chapters are well put, explaining what Ajax is etc. But it needs further tuning downstream. I give it 3 out of 5.



4. Let me get something straight here: Michael Mahemoff really knows how to teach, this book is one of the most appropriated books for those who want to learn about AJAX and in this review I'll tell you why I think so.
   First of all, the book starts explaining all the basics of AJAX with its definitons, how it works, related technologies and more. But the best point is: the author always explains using real-life examples, which makes everything easier to understand. The following chapters cover the AJAX Design Patterns properly. You can think about these design patterns as specific solutions, for example "how to made an auto-complete box with ajax", which will give you a great variety of "what can I do with ajax" things. The book also covers some architectural patterns too.
   I think the main goal of this book is not only the great diversity of solutions that you can apply in your projects, but how the author explains them. He always starts the explanation of a design pattern with a brief history of how this pattern can help you giving real examples on where these patterns have being applied. Don't forget that one of the main goals of Design Patterns is to create a "vocabulary" to make an easier reference about a specific subject, and this book completely achieves this goal by giving names for each one of those solutions represented as a Design Pattern.
   That's why I believe this book is a "must have" for any AJAX professional or student.



5. The title 'Ajax Design Patterns' is a little misleading because this is more like an AJAX cookbook or solutions book. Packed with ~650 pages of material spread over 19 chapters and 4 indexes, this is a good resource for anyone looking to work with and/or learn about what AJAX is and what it has to offer.
   
   My only issue with this book is that the overall look and feel is like many of the other O'Reilly offerings that have a more 'nerdy' feel to it. The cover and layout looks like it is just going to be a pocket with published papers all put together into one package, but because of it's cookbook nature it's not the same niche of book. I would have chosen a different design and layout to make this book better represent the content contained within.
   
   Having said all that, I think the book is a smashing success. Case studies such as slider bar creation, drag and drop, text editors are interspersed with the history of AJAX and why this buzzword is one that really DOESN'T get old (it's so powerful).
   
   For all AJAX developers I easily recommend this book. It's full of yummy tidbits of information that you will no doubt fine useful and engaging.
   
   **** RECOMMENDED

No comments about SolidWorks 2008 for Designers.

No comments about Head First Ajax.

1 comments about Building Telephony Systems with OpenSER.

1. OpenSER has quickly gained a well-deserved reputation as one of the finest open source VoIP projects. Lightweight yet powerful, OpenSER powers some of the world's largest VoIP implementations.
   
   Up until now, many people have been reluctant to explore the power of OpenSER, due to the steep learning curve, and a sense that it is very difficult to understand.
   
   Finally, a book that lowers the barriers to entry.
   
   Building Telephony Systems with OpenSER is just what the OpenSER community needs in order to grow. This concise yet excellent book takes you step by step through most of the key OpenSER modules, and it does so in a manner that seems to strike the right balance between brevity and depth. I have been reluctant to get into OpenSER, because I remember how painful it was to learn Asterisk without a good book. With this book, I feel that OpenSER just became more friendly and accessible.

5 comments about The Photoshop Channels Book.

1. Scott Kelby uses an easy style to get the information he wants to present across to the reader. It may not be for everyone but it made the material more accessible for me. I was able to quickly absorb a lot of information. I read the entire book first and now I am going back and doing the excersizes. I have been using Photoshop for several years but I have not used channels until now. Recommended.



2. Scott's style of writing in this book becomes a little overbearing at times, as he tries to be amusing at every turn of the page. That makes it rather hard to read the book a second time to review things one may have forgotten.
   
   Having said that, Scott doesn't write as if the reader is an imbecile, and the pace of the book is good. Scott clearly explains each step required to use channels and if you follow along you are amazed at the end of an exercise how much you have accomplished in a short space of time.
   
   Because of the large number of screen shots, the book can be easily read without sitting in front of the computer, which is handy if you want to read it on the plane or over a beer at the pub.
   
   I therefore recommend the book for people with a variety of skills in the use of Photoshop. That ranges from anyone who knows what a layer is through to an advanced user.



3. Excellent: Easy to understand, detailed, great for beginner's to the advanced. I learn something new every time I open this book.



4. Like most of Kelby books very usefull guide and very easy to understand. Even if you only know a little of english like me. Recomended



5. I like the way Scott designs his information, it makes it easier to absorb, and skim through if I already am familiar with it. Full of to-the-point tutorials, I learned a lot from this book. Also, he freely plugs other authors who give more in-depth teaching, which I appreciate since his books are not ultimate "Bible" type works. His goofy humor is featured in the intro to each chapter, barely worth a chuckle most of the time, but at least he's not an unbearable ego maniac schooling the unwashed masses like Dan Margulis. Recommended.

5 comments about Core Security Patterns: Best Practices and Strategies for J2EE(TM), Web Services, and Identity Management (Sun Core Series).

1. This is a great book - by far the best security design book for Java and J2EE (including Java SE 6 and Java EE 5) I have read to date. When I first heard about my coworkers talking about this book, I thought "oh great, another J2EE book!" Much to my surprise, this book is not just a how-to security API or patterns recipe book but much more than that - I see it as a collection of valuable suggestions and examples on how to choose security mechanisms and use them in J2EE applications and web services. Moreover, it tells you what the bestpractices, pitfalls and tradeoffs are for each design pattern option you take. Particularly, You will find this book as an ideal companion for CORE J2EE PATTERNS - Deepak Alur et al, which is my favorite for designing J2EE applications.
   
   This book is as close to size of a pillow and I do understand why the authors gave only code snippets for selected examples instead of full implementation. The case study is just right, it discusses the scenario and how to incorporate the patterns right in to the application design..which is just right for a Java developer who is involved with Java enterprise applications and web services. The best practices and security checklist detailed in this book - helps a lot during development and when you want to deploy a J2EE application/web service in production.
   
   Having said that, I prefer this book as a must-have for any serious Java developer/designer/architect who wants to build Security from understanding basics of WHAT and know WHY you should architect your J2EE system in a particular way using best practices (a long list) and not just HOW. Ultimately you will find this book as an onestop reference for building security in J2EE applications and web services.



2. I prefer to be short.This book met my expectations. It is a good overview on latest the security designs. It doesn't go into the unnecessary details. It gave me some good ideas on my latest security system implementation.I used it a lot when I was writing my solution architecture design document.



3. Our book discussion group selected this book to review. Unfortunately after a couple months we agreed the value of this book was not sufficient to continue reading and discussing it. (We gave up in Chapter 9 - after skipping chapters 5, 6 and 7 because too many of the group were losing patience and wanted to get deeper into the book where we might find something of value.)
   
   Many interesting subjects are touched on, but nothing has enough depth to be of serious value. This is further hampered by poor writing and editing. There is a fair amount of "duplication" in this book where the same "nothing" is sometimes repeated. The code snippets are weak and not of much value.
   
   The bottom line is that while the subject is very interesting, the presentation in this book is so poor that it doesn't justify reading 1000+ dull pages. This book doesn't seem to have a target audience, it's too high level for developers, but gets into too low level details for management. It fails to be a good technical reference and at the same time fails as a concise overview to educate management decision makers. (Hint for authors: if your audience is management, keep it brief and to the point, management doesn't have time to read page after page of trivial commentary. If your audience is developers, the book needs to deliver solid technical information.)



4. This is a very comprehensive, well written and well-organized guide for securing Java and J2EE. Yes, it has everything - all done well - definitely worth a buy. If you are into Java based applications development and planning to work on application security assessment, development, testing ....and planning to live by it every day, you will learn a lot from this book, to re-evaluate the things with patterns and best-practices, and to genuinely improve your results knowing the pitfalls. If you are a Java applications developer, this book *will* help you guide with Java security mechanisms and where and apply them for building secure applications. If you are a security enthusiast, you will genuinely enjoy the time spent with this book, and you will find this brick handy more often than previously imagined.
   
   I strongly recommend this book for budding and experienced Java developers/architects who are involved with Java applications development, J2EE based web applications and web services. This book covers security mechanisms including Java 6 and Java EE5.



5. This is a great book - by far the best security design book for Java and J2EE I have read to date. When I first heard about my coworkers talking about this book, I thought "oh great, another J2EE book!" Much to my surprise, this book is not just a how-to security API or patterns recipe book but much more than that - I see it as a collection of valuable suggestions and examples on how to choose security mechanisms and use them in J2EE applications and web services. Moreover, it tells you what the bestpractices, pitfalls and tradeoffs are for each design pattern option you take. Particularly, You will find this book as an ideal companion for CORE J2EE PATTERNS - Deepak Alur et al, which is my favorite for designing J2EE applications.
   
   This book is as close to size of a pillow and I do understand why the authors gave only code snippets for selected examples instead of full implementation. The case study is just right, it discusses the scenario and how to incorporate the patterns right in to the application design..which is just right for an experienced developer but a budding developer may find it uncomfortable.
   
   Having said that, I prefer this book as a must-have for any serious J2EE developer/designer/architect who wants to build Security from understanding basics of WHAT and know WHY you should architect your J2EE system in a particular way and not just HOW. Ultimately you will find this book as an onestop reference for building security in J2EE applications.